For the first time in several weeks, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick is set to enter a NASCAR Cup Series race weekend in danger of potentially losing the points lead that he has held ever since winning the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Reddick, winner of four races so far this year, was in the mix for the win again in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but he had to settle for fourth place. However, his points lead was sliced from 82 to 62, as he didn't score any stage points all afternoon.
Race runner-up Ryan Blaney, who ended Reddick's historic season-opening three-race winning streak with a victory at Phoenix Raceway just over a month ago, closed that gap to Reddick thanks to the 17 points he scored in the race's first two stages. He also scored a bonus point for running the race's fastest lap.
And if not for yet another lackluster performance from the pit crew of the No. 12 Team Penske team, he might well have won to cut the deficit to 47 points.
Ryan Blaney cuts into Tyler Reddick's points lead
With up to 75 points on offer each weekend, after NASCAR boosted the value of wins from 40 to 55 over the offseason, Blaney could theoretically be the new points leader after this coming Sunday afternoon's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, although it's still a longshot; he would need to win to have any chance.
Blaney's best finishes in 22 career starts at Kansas are a pair of third place efforts. Reddick has made 13 starts at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas City, Kansas oval and won there in September 2023.
Blaney is the only driver who can potentially overtake Reddick at the top of the point standings at Kansas. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is the co-owner of Reddick's race team, is third in the standings, but he's 86 points out of the lead. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota is the only driver with no finishes of worse than 13th post-Daytona 500.
The AdventHealth 400 is set to be shown live on Fox from Kansas Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 19. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss it!
Add us as a preferred source on Google